Increasing concern about the safety and efficiency of state-of-the-art methods of restraining in-transit cargo has led to increased government regulation and changing industry practice. It is recognized that continued reliance on past practices and currently available equipment will lead inevitably to the continuation of shifting loads, damaged goods and accidents resulting from freight falling onto a highway from a transporting vehicle.
The majority of current cargo restraint systems comprise one or more belts that cover the load and are attached at each of their ends to anchoring attachments along the edge of or embedded in the surface of the bed of the transport device, whether rail, air or highway vehicle. Using more belts or straps to better secure the load is impractical because the number of anchor points on existing transports limits the number of belts and their effective spacing. In addition, as the height of the cargo increases, so does the instability and ineffectiveness of the restraining system. Furthermore, while presently available straps or belts may be suitable for securing containerized or non-containerized cargo, they do not allow for proper retention of stacked cargo, that is, cargo that is piled onto cargo that is already secured with all of the means that are available. Instances of multiple load packages that are of divergent shapes, sizes and character that must be stacked one on top of the other occur frequently in military applications. For example, a rigid container may be secured to the bed of a truck with available straps and a soft load of tents may be placed on top of the container. In such a case the surface anchoring attachments for restraining belts or straps to secure the superimposed load are either not available or are too widely spaced laterally from the soft load to obtain an effective purchase between the load and the securing straps or restraining network.
Accordingly, it is the primary objective of the present invention to provide a tie-down system for in-transit cargo that prevents articles from shifting on or within, or falling from the transporting device which can be a road vehicle, all terrain vehicle, ship, railroad car or aircraft.
A second object of the invention is to provide a cargo tie-down apparatus that multiplies the number of anchoring points for attachment of cargo restraints.
Another object of the invention is to provide a tie-down system that places the additional anchoring points closer to the higher load elements of stacked cargo for an improved wrap of the load-restraining straps around the top and sides of the stacked load to prevent shifting and movement of the load.
A further object of the invention is to provide a load securement system that will allow upper and lower elements of a total load to be separately secured but with common anchoring points, permitting, among other things, the upper load to be off-loaded without disturbing the securement of the lower portion of the load.
Another object of the invention is to increase the securement and stability of loads that are placed on vehicles that are required to traverse rough terrain.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a novel method of tying down cargo on a transport device that prevents articles from shifting on or within, or falling from the transporting device.
Other and further objects, features and advantages of the tie-down system of the present invention will become apparent upon a reading of the following description of a preferred form of the invention.